Earth from Space: A veil of haze and smoke

This Copernicus Sentinel-3 image from October 2023 captures the plains of northern India and Pakistan under a white veil of haze and smoke.

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Most of the plains at the foothills of the Himalayas can be seen in the lower part of the image covered by thick haze and smoke.

The haze is due to plains being more humid than the mountainous areas, which dominate the upper part of the image. Smoke adds significantly to the white veil and is a result of paddy stubble burning. Particularly common in the Indian regions of Punjab and Haryana, this practice involves burning the remains of crops at the end of the season to prepare for the following growing season. This image was acquired in October and the smoke here is a result of burning off the rice stubble at the end of their growing season.

The snow-covered peaks of the Hindu Kush are in the top left of the image and the Karakoram range is to the east.

North of the Himalayas, part of the Tibetan Plateau can be seen dotted with a number of lakes – many of which freeze for many months of the year. With an average height of over 4500 m, the Tibetan Plateau is the highest plateau on Earth. It is also the largest plateau on Earth covering an area four times the size of France.

Owing to the variation in altitude and vegetation between the Tibetan Plateau and the plains of India and Pakistan, there is a distinct colour difference between the upper and lower part of the image.